ROSETTA DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Rochester[, N.Y.] 6 Dec[ember] 1859.

MY DEAR FATHER

Nearly two weeks have past since I wrote you last.—I think my letter will
have reached you in a week from this date. I have just written a letter to
Miss Assing¹Ottilie Assing. since in reply to one I received from her dated Nov. 26th.

The Virginia [illegible] have murdered our Hero he [illegible] his fate
like a brave and good man as he was. If any one even doubted Capt.
Brown’s bravery they cannot help now in feeling assured that they were
mistaken in their doubt. The last letter to his wife and family is touching,
and cannot fail to draw tears from the eyes of the reader. The letter is full
of a Christians hope and wishes. Corinthian hall was draped in mourning
last friday evening and a meeting in sympathy with Capt. Brown was
held between two and three hundred assembled as [illegible] audience for
Rochester.²After the court assigned John Brown’s execution date, 2 December 1859, Parker Pillsbury requested Susan B. Anthony’s assistance to secure Rochester’s Corinthian Hall for a meeting the same night. Though many abolitionists lived in Rochester and the surrounding areas, only 300 came to mourn Brown and listen to several addresses. The Reverend Abram PrynePryne, Abram

Abram Pryne (c. 1822-62), a theologically liberal clergyman, entered New York abolitionist circles in the 1850s. Originally a supporter of Gerrit Smith and the Liberty Party, he served a term in the state legislature as a Republican representative from Wayne County (1860-62). In September 1858 Pryne and Tennessee minister, William G. Brownlow, participated in a public debate over slavery, which was stenographically reported and published as a book. Along with his clerical responsibilities, Pryne also edited a newspaper, the Progressive Christian, in the mid-1850s and later assisted Douglass with editorial tasks on the Frederick Douglass` Paper and the Douglass` Monthly. Ought American Slavery to be Perpetuated? A Debate Between Rev. W. G. Brownlow and Rev. A. Pryne (Philadelphia, 1858); DM, 3: 724 (October 1862); Lib., 30 October 1862. , acting editor of Douglass’ Monthly in its owner’s absence abroad, and Parker Pillsbury spoke in praise of Brown and the cause of abolition. Several newspapers throughout the state of New York reported the meeting. Genesee County Herald, 10 December 1859; Harper, Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, 1:119. The flag, which was also draped in mourning hung [illegible]
floating in the breeze and attracting the attention of the passers by. I felt
certain that a full house would be the result. Mr. Pryne³Abram Pryne. spoke ably, he has
no style scarcely, he thunders away quite loud and suddenly his voice lowers
to an ordinary pitch. Parker Pillsbury⁴Parker Pillsbury (1809-98), an outspoken abolitionist orator, editor, and author, proved more demanding than Garrison himself regarding the necessity of purifying abolitionism of all tendencies toward compromise and expediency. An interest in theology and temperance led this onetime farmer to study at New Hampshire’s Gilmanton Theological Seminary. During an additional year of study at Andover, he made the acquaintance of John A. Collins, who exposed Pillsbury to the abolitionist movement. By 1840, his sharp attacks on the complicity of churches with slavery had led to the revocation of his license to preach. For the next two decades, Pillsbury lectured for the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and American Anti-Slavery societies. He edited the Concord (N.H.) Herald of Freedom during the late 1840s and the National Anti-Slavery Standard in 1866. During the Civil War, Pillsbury criticized Union war aims, especially before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. In 1865 he broke with Garrison over the necessity for continued activity by the American Anti-Slavery Society. After the war, Pillsbury became active in the woman suffrage movement and the Free Religious Association. Stacey M. Robertson, Parker Pillsbury: Radical Abolitionist, Male Feminist (Ithaca, N.Y., 2000); Mabee, Black Freedom, 112, 221-23, 329; McPherson, Struggle for Equality, 59-60, 100-102, 305-07; Louis Filler “Parker Pillsbury: An Anti-Slavery Apostle," New England Quarterly, 19:315-37 (September 1946); DAB, 14:608-09. spoke after Mr. Payne he was
very sarcastic in his remarks⁵Pillsbury’s address praised John Brown and defended his violent actions at Harpers Ferry. Susan B. Anthony recalled Pillsbury’s address fondly and stated that he “spoke as never before” in Brown’s defense. Samuel D. Porter, also in attendance, recalled that the event was the “only occasion that matched Pillsbury’s adjectives.” Genesee County Herald, 10 December 1859; Harper, Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, 1:119; Thirteenth Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka, Kans., 1902), 35. and several left the hall, he thinks Brown
a greater man than Washington,⁶The most controversial remark in Pillsbury’s speech was his comparison of John Brown with George Washington. Pillsbury stated that Brown had done more for liberty by his “sacrifice” than any of the founders. He concluded that Brown was “greater than they.” Pillsbury’s comparison is not surprising; he had compared Brown to Oliver Cromwell in a meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in February 1859, and to Kosciusko and Lafayette in Manchester, New Hampshire, on 28 November 1859. Lib., 2 December 1859; New York Evening Express, 6 December 1859; Bertram Wyatt Brown, “William Lloyd Garrison and Anti-Slavery Unity: A Reappraisal,” Civil War History, 13:18 (March 1967). that idea did not please the reporters at
all and the next day the city papers criticized his speech severely.⁷Pillsbury’s speech on the night of Brown’s execution drew instant criticism from newspapers throughout New York. Pillsbury was denounced for his defense of Brown, and several newspapers continued their criticism into 1860. They believed that only peaceful measures could bring emancipation. Pillsbury’s comparison of Brown and Washington drew the most criticism. Under the title of “The Memory of Washington Insulted," the New York Evening Express assailed Pillsbury’s speech. The Express argued that according to Pillsbury, “traitors, insurgents, and murderers were greater than Washington.” New York Evening Express, 6 December 1859; New York Daily Union, 2 February 1860. I saw
Banclay Coppic⁸One of the five followers of John Brown to evade capture after the failure of the Harpers Ferry raid, Barclay Coppoc (1839-61), whose brother Edwin was captured in the raid and later executed, migrated to Kansas from his native Ohio in 1856. Coppoc fled to western Pennsylvania, where he parted company with other escapees and eventually made his way to safety in Iowa. He died while serving in a Kansas regiment early in the Civil War. Hinton, John Brown, 539-41; John R. McKivigan, “His Soul Goes Marching On: The Story of John Brown’s Followers after the Harpers Ferry Raid,” in Antislavery Violence: Sectional, Racial, and Cultural Conflict in Antebellum America, eds. John R. McKivigan and Stanley Harrold (Knoxville, Tenn., 1999), 276, 278, 280. last thursday he is quite young and is suffering from a
bad cold which has settled in his lungs the result of his exposure in the
mountains. He looked very much haggard. Last week a young man was
arrested at Charlestown supposing him to be Banclay Coppic he now lies
in their jail. [illegible] and I heard Dr. George B. Windship⁹Born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, George Barker Windship (1834-76) graduated from Harvard College. As a freshman, he was frequently tormented for his small stature, so he began practicing gymnastics in order to strengthen his body. After completing his undergraduate degree, Windship was introduced to weightlifting while seeking employment in acting. His father convinced him to return to Harvard Medical School. Upon graduation, he preached the importance of “physical culture” while touring the Midwest, Northeast, and parts of Canada. Windship combined his medical office with a gymnasium in hopes of inducing his patients to train in weightlifting. He patented several strength-training devices and continued to practice physical fitness until his early death at the age of forty-two. Critics attributed his death to weightlifting. Through his work, Windship influenced many later physical culture programs, including ones organized by the Young Men’s Christian Association. David L. Porter, ed., Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Basketball and Other Indoor Sports (Westport, Conn., 1989), 633-34; ACAB, 6:562. on “Physical Culture” last thursday , uncanny he performed the wonderful feat of

lifting with his hands 904 pounds of nails in kegs, besides putting a barrel
of 214 pounds on his shoulder, he is a strong man certainly very young
and weighing himself 148 lbs. His lecture was most much.

AnnieDouglass, Annie

¹⁰Annie Douglass. attends school regularly she is the favorite of her grammar
teacher he says she is the best student he has. Mrs. Prinson has written to
me she is pleased with the paper and thinks the allowing Mr. Payne the
editorship could not be improved. Every one that I have seen who takes
the paper are pleased with the manner in which it is conducted in your
absence. Annie [illegible] a part of the [illegible] page she writes daily in
her English writing book and intends to astonish you with her advance in
penmanship.

The ground is white with snow around us and winter has come in
grand earnest.

Gerrit SmithSmith, Gerrit

Gerrit Smith (1797– 1874), a New York businessman and land speculator, became best known for his philanthropic work for such reform causes as temperance and abolition. Between 1828 and 1835, he donated large sums of money to the American Colonization Society, but abandoned that movement in 1835 when his sympathies shifted to the immediate abolitionists. In the 1840s, he gave approximately 140,000 acres of land in upstate New York to three thousand black settlers, thus qualifying them to vote. Smith was a founder and frequent candidate of the Liberty party, running for governor of New York on that ticket in 1840 and winning a seat in Congress in 1852. When the Free Soil merger with moderate antislavery Democrats and Whigs lured away many Liberty party supporters, Smith helped bankroll that organization until 1860. Smith befriended Douglass when the latter moved to Rochester, and Smith frequently helped finance Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Like Douglass, Smith supported John Brown, but psychological stress caused by the failure at Harpers Ferry brought on the first of a series of bipolar episodes that greatly reduced his subsequent reform activities. Ralph Volney Harlow, Gerrit Smith: Philanthropist and Reformer (1939; New York, 1972); Gerald Sorin, The New York Abolitionists: A Case Study of Political Radicalism (Westport, Conn., 1971), 269– 87; Lewis Perry, Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought (Ithaca, N.Y., 1973), 170– 80; John R. McKivigan and Madeleine Leveille, “The ‘Black Dream’ of Gerrit Smith, New York Abolitionist,” Syracuse University Library Associates Courier, 20:61– 76 (Fall 1985); NCAB , 2:322– 23; DAB, 17:270– 71. is improving fast and will son be able to go to his family
if he has not already gone.

Every Affectious Yours

ROSETTA DOUGLASSSprague, Rosetta Douglass

Rosetta Douglass Sprague (1839–1906), the first child of Anna and Frederick Douglass, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on 24 June 1839. In her childhood, Rosetta wrote and read letters for her mother, whom she assisted with housework and with piecework for the shoe factories in Lynn, Massachusetts. Her father sent Rosetta to school at age seven in Albany, New York, where she lived with Abigail and Lydia Mott. When the Douglass family moved to Rochester, Rosetta began attending the Seward Seminary, where her presence offended the parents of one of the white students and led to her segregation from the other pupils. Her father, in a fury, removed Rosetta from the school and hired a private tutor for his daughter. Rosetta, along with her three brothers, then led other students in the efforts to desegregate Rochester’s public school system. From 1854 to 1855, Rosetta attended Oberlin College preparatory school, one of the first institutions of higher education to accept African Americans and women. She became a teacher in Philadelphia and Salem, Massachusetts, until her marriage in 1863 to Nathan Sprague, with whom she had seven children. Before her death in 1906, she wrote a memoir of her mother that remains one of the most complete documents of Anna Murray Douglass’s life. Rosetta Douglass Sprague, My Mother as I Recall Her: A Paper Read before the Anna Murray Douglass Union, W.C.T.U., May 10, 1900 (1900; Washington, D.C., 1923); Dorothy Sterling, ed., We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century (New York, 1984), 132–45; Ellen N. Lawson and Marlene Merrill, “The Antebellum ‘Talented Thousandth’: Black College Students at Oberlin before the Civil War,” Journal of Negro Education, 52: 145 (Spring 1983); Miriam DeCosta-Willis, “Smoothing the Tucks in Father’s Linen: The Women of Cedar Hill,” Sage, 4: 30–33 (Fall 1987); Sylvia Lyons Render, “Afro-American Women: The Outstanding and the Obscure,” Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, 32: 306–10 (October 1975), 307–10.

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 32, frames 4-5, FD Papers, DLC.